FROM THIS EPISODE

It’s been three years since the earthquake and tsunami that killed over 15,000 people in Japan and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant there. And for tens of thousands of Japanese, the nightmare that started on March 11, 2011, continues to this day. We also talk to Walter Kirn about his new memoir about his relationship with a fraudster and murderer who claimed to be a Rockefeller. We look back on the controversial career of journalist Joe McGinniss. And we check in with SXSW, where there’s now a special section for TV creators.

It’s been three years since the earthquake and tsunami that killed over 15,000 people in Japan and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant there. And for tens of thousands of Japanese, the nightmare that started on March 11, 2011, continues to this day.

Hundreds of tons of radioactive water escaped from the Fukushima Daiichi plant into the Pacific. It created what’s been called the “Fukushima Plume.” And over the last three years, ocean currents have slowly been moving the plume eastward. So how worried should we be? We talk to someone who helps us separate the facts from the internet myths surrounding the plume.

The ever-expanding South-By-Southwest festival in Austin opened its doors to a new group this year: The TV industry. But they’re not calling the new section “TV” - because, what is TV anymore, when so much original content is coming from sites like Netflix and Hulu? We check-in with TV Guide’s Michael Schneider, who’s checking out the scene at SXSW.

When Clark Rockefeller was arrested for kidnapping his daughter several years ago, police discovered that he wasn’t really Clark Rockefeller at all. He was a German man who’d taken many aliases over the years and had committed murder. But this fraudster had convinced many people - including his own wife - that he was a Rockefeller. He also convinced our guest, author Walter Kirn.

Journalist Joe McGinnis died this morning at the age of 71. He was one of America’s most famous (and infamous) journalists. In the age of Slate and Politico, it’s hard to imagine what it was like to read his book The Selling of the President in 1968. It was the first book to ever really take the American public inside a presidential campaign - in this case, Richard Nixon’s successful run for the White House. We look back at his controversial career.